540William Hatch was born about 1598, presumably in Tenterden, co. Kent. As William Hatch of Ashford, woolen draper, bachelor, about 25, he was licensed to marry Jane Young of Thannington, maiden, about 27, whose friends were dead, on July 9, 1624. Edward young of Thannington, husbandman, possibly her brother, and William Page, blacksmith, of Canterbury, were the bondsmen. Although the license calls him bachelor, this was undoubtedly Hatch's second marriage. His son Walter, was sixteen or older in 1643 and gave his age as "59 yeares" in 1681/2, indicating his birth year as 1622 or 1623. In his father's will Walter Hatch is the first son named and in all documents dealing with the estate he signs before his brother, with the privilege of seniority. In the regular sequence of Jane (Young) Hatch's children there is no place for him. It seems necessary, therefore, to provide William Hatch with an unrecorded first wife who died soon after the birth of her son.
As we have seen, Hatch was a woolen-draper of Ashford in 1624. He moved almost immediately after his marriage to Wye where he was still living in 1633, but when he sailed for New England in 1634/5 he was a resident of the Kentish port of Sandwich. On March 17, 1634/5, Mr. Thomas Gardener, Vicar of St. Mary's in Sandwich, gave Hatch the necessary certificate of conformity, and it was possibly late in March or early in April that he and his family embarked on the Hercules, 200 tons, John Witherley, master. The entry on the passenger list is "Wm Hatch of Sandwich Merchant & Jane his Wief"; children - Walter, John, Willm, Anne, Jane; servants - Wm Holmes, Joseph Ketchrell, Simon Ketchrell, Robt Jennings, Symon Sutton, Lidia Wells. Among the other voyagers, mostly from south-western Kent, were Hatch's cousin Lydia (Huckstep) Tilden, her husband and seven children.541
With many of their fellow passengers the Hatch family settled in Scituate where Hatch built a house on Kent street. He was made a freeman of the Plymouth County on January 5, 1635/6. Leaving his family in its new home Hatch returned to England, probably to settle his affairs in the old country, and in April, 1638, he set sail ofr New England a second timeon the Castle, very probably accompanied by his brother Thomas Hatch, his sister Elizabeth Soan and their families.
Hatch was a juror in 1638 at the trial of Arthur Peach, Thomas Jackson and Richard Stinnings for the murder of an Indian. On September 3, 1638, he was granted an island of twenty acres on the south side of the North river, called the old island, or Hatch's island, which he sold to Joseph Tilden in 1649. In 1642 he was on the committee to provide forces for a possible war with the Indians and in 1643, when he and his sons Walter and John were on the list of the Scituate men able to bear arms, he was elected lieutenant "for trayneing their men in the art of war." He had since 1638 been "excercising the people in arms at Scituate.: He was chosen the first Ruling Elder of the Second Church of Scituate in 1643. In the court of March 5, 1643/4, Hatch sued his servant hercules, presumably a negro, to determine whether he was to have served six or seven years. The court decided for the shorter term and ordered that Hercules should be freed on July 3, 1644. Elder Hatch died November 6, 1651. Widow Jane Hatch married in Scituate March 31, 1653, Thomas King who succeeded Hatch as Ruling Elder. She died October 8, 1653.
William Hatch made his will on November 5, 1651, and it was proved June 3, 1652. He made very careful provision for his wife Jane. She was to have two cows to be kept by the executors upon his meadow lands, and their increase until they exceeded the number of six, one half of the dwelling house and one half of the fruit of the orchard, fifteen bushels of corn a year and sixteen rods of broken-up ground for sowing hemp, a bed, two pairs of sheets, two pairs of pillow-coats, a bolster, a rug and a blanket, also a pot, two household platters, two pewter dishes, a pewter drinking pot, a little brass pot, a brass skillet, two spinning wheels, a pair of wool cards, a trunk, half a dozen milk trays, a couple of wooden dishes, two wooden platters, a milk pan, two chairs, four spoons, one of silver, a warming pan, a brandiron, a pair of tongs, a pair of pot hangers, a fire slice, a hog and the great brass kettle. To daughter Jane Lovell, a pair of sheets, a cow and, if she has more children, each child is to have a calf from the calf which he had already given to her son John, also a chest, a pewter candle-stick, a saucer and two alchemy spoons. To daughter Ann Torry, a cow and the strip pot. To grandson James Torry a cow calf, and successive calves of her breeding to grandchildren William Torry, Joseph Torry and Damaris Torry. All the rest of his movable goods, lands and tenements to his two sons Walter Hatch and William Hatch, to be equally divided, and they to be executors. Witnesses: William Wetherell, James Torry, William Hatch the son of Thomas Hatch. The inventory of £95 was taken by Walter Hatch and William Hatch, and was presented June 3, 1652. |